


Tango Amore

by flamingosarepink



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, Phichit is the worried friend, may be canon divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 11:05:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10875465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamingosarepink/pseuds/flamingosarepink
Summary: A sequel to "Believe" and what comes after Viktor is the one to follow Yuuri into the bathroom at the GPF.





	Tango Amore

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoy the sequel. Title comes from Evgeni Plushenko's 2010 Vancouver Olympics Free Skate. Which, I think is oddly appropriate.

Viktor is sitting in his apartment one early afternoon back home after lunch when he gets the text on his phone from Yuri. Yakov told him to stay home from training after winning Worlds, and Viktor can only oblige from the way that he feels. They’ve started talking about programs for next season, but it just all seems so repetitious and it feels like a total drag. Viktor is surprised its even gotten to this point- That skating would seem like such drudgery. Simultaneously, he’s thinking about Worlds- not about winning, but what it was like after awards ceremony while they’re backstage, overhearing a conversation Phichit had with a female skater that Viktor didn’t recognize. He barely heard it, but he heard all that he needed to. 

“Yuuri’s gone home.” Phichit says, his voice dejected. “ To make it even worse, he’s called things off with Coach Celestino.” _No no no,_ Viktor thinks having previously thought that maybe his words held some kind of clout given how Yuuri thinks so highly of him, but he was wrong. _Nothing I can do about it now, he’s made his decision._

In some ways, this feels like Viktor’s ultimate failure. As a skater, his main goal has always been to surprise people and in the process inspire them. If he couldn’t do that for Yuuri, what did this all mean then? Makkachin has curled up at the other end of the couch at his feet snoring peacefully when Viktor finally opens the message from Yuri.

 _Look at this, old man. The text starts out. The Japanese pig ACTUALLY tried to skate your program. What a clown._ Following the end of the text there’s a link to a Youtube video, and when Viktor clicks it and the video starts playing he hears music that is all too familiar. HIS music - Stay Close to Me - but instead of him skating it, it’s Yuuri. The Russian watches the whole video with an intense gaze, his chin between his thumb and index finger as he finds himself deep in thought is a natural reaction for Viktor -always wanting to analyze the correctness of every step sequence and every jump- but he can’t help but feel a brimming feeling of hopefulness. 

_Maybe this isn’t the ultimate failure after all,_ his mind muses. 

Once the video ends, he places his phone on the coffee table. For a brief minute he thinks about the incident with Yuuri in the bathroom but then Viktor closes his eyes and his mind is immediately drawn back to the matter at hand. 

—

It isn’t until after a long while of just laying there that another thought flashes across his mind, and this one sticks. Viktor rises from the couch and wakes up Makkachin in the process.

By the time that he reappears after having made a beeline for his room, the poodle is waiting by the door with his tail wagging excitedly. Viktor smiles gently, clipping the leash to the dog’s collar with a luggage in hand behind him before the soft sound of the door closes without making much of a sound. 

An hour later, the moving truck arrives. Viktor is the recipient of an call from Yakov, who isn’t at all happy about Viktor’s plans. He yells something about how Viktor never listens to him anyway, but Viktor just chuckles as the taxi pulls up to the airport terminal. 

“ Bye Yakov, if you’re ever in Japan, just come see me.” His tone is cheerful as he hangs up, leaving his coach yelling on the other end about how Viktor never listens to him. 

—

Since coming home, Yuuri has found himself in a repetitious cycle.

Wake up, get up. Get dressed, have breakfast. Leave for Minako’s ballet studio. Stay for what seems like hours. Sometimes he feels completely stupid for backing out of his skating career so easily. Skating is his life, but after how the Grand Prix Final went he doesn’t know if he really wants to deal with it all at the moment. Then came the video. Yuuri heaves out a frustrated sigh, hands over his eyes as he glances at his phone next to him and reaches for it before remembering that he turned it off to avoid the influx of messages that came along with the aftermath of everyone seeing the video of him skating Viktor’s program. Yuko was absolutely furious at the triplets, and of course the triplets thought it was the best thing in the world. 

Against what is mind is telling him, Yuuri gets up out of bed and has breakfast. Then he tells his parents and Mari goodbye as he leaves the eating space and heads for Minako’s. 

She works him like she usually does. Watching him go through various different manuevers while watching him through a critical eye. Even while she’s glad to have him back, she seems perturbed with him over the way he quit. He’s gained a little weight since coming back, probably due to the fact that he’s done really nothing but eat somewhat uncontrollably. The only thing keeping him from completely staying at home and doing nothing is the fact he knows he can’t just stay home. 

Then all of this would be for nothing. He doesn’t want to quit, but his drive to compete just isn’t there. He contemplates calling Celestino to tell him that he wants to come back, but his mind stops him as per usual and he leans against the bar with a heaving sigh as he catches his breath. 

“So what are you going to do?” Minako asks once they’re sitting on the floor and Yuuri is stretching out muscles that he feels haven’t been properly stretched in ages. 

“ I haven’t really thought about it. I’ve.. I’ve thought about calling Celestino but somehow I think he wouldn’t like that. I don’t want to quit, I’ll find a way to keep skating but.. I just don’t really know what to do right now.” Minako makes a noise, and Yuuri keeps stretching. 

Once they’re done and he’s getting ready to leave, she offers him an apologetic look. He offers a half attempted smile before walking out the door. In the time between his arrival at the studio and leaving, it has started snowing. _This is unexpected. People are supposed to be having perfect weather for viewing the Cherry Blossoms right now._ He thinks with a smile, and it’s slightly unexpected joy, although he’ll probably have to help shovel snow when he gets back home.

The closer he gets to his family’s hot spring, there’s more and more people. All different kinds of people. Girls looking starstruck, press that he recognizes from various competitions. As soon as they notice him, he practically has to fight his way inside while fighting off questions about his career before Mari comes out to grab him by the collar, pulling him inside and swatting at a reporter who gets too close to him in the process. Somehow he doesn’t think that this is about him, but it certainly doesn’t quite feel right. When they finally get inside, Mari glances at him with a look of concern. 

“ You okay?” She’s somewhat out of breath as Yuuri stands there wide-eyed and looking out the window at the coulomb of reporters and fans. 

“ I.. I just really want to go up to my room.” His sister purses her lips before Yuuri immediately runs to his room, canceling out whatever Mari is trying to tell him about things being okay and needing to ignore the reporters. _Are the reports really true? Are you really finished?_ Tears are brimming at his eyes quicker than he can stifle them back and he can feel himself shaking as he starts to sob, but something bounds into him and knocks him down only to lick at his face. 

He shuts his eyes as whatever knocks him over starts liking his face excitedly. Yuuri places a hand on whatever this thing is and then realizes that it’s a Poodle. He opens his eyes with a laugh and sure enough, he’s right. The dog seems older but nevertheless excitable. A million scenarios run through his mind but in the end he knows it can’t POSSIBLY be his Poodle Vicchan, who passed away while he was gone. 

“ Think you could take these boxes to where I’ll be stay- Well hello, Yuuri!” 

His heart almost feels like it could be in his throat and his jaw nearly hits the floor. Yuuri recognizes that voice and once again he feels SO mortified at being seen in a highly emotional state- eyes puffy and red from behind his glasses.

“Viktor.” His tone of voice is one of pure shock. “ What are you doing here?”

Viktor laughs at this point, part relief and part cheerful richness thanks to his accent. “ I’m here to be your coach, Yuuri! When I told you not to quit at the Grand Prix Final, I was being serious.” 

Yuuri’s jaw drops as Viktor helps him up off the floor with Makkachin looking as excited as ever standing by Viktor and part of him wishes that he would have taken Viktor’s words more seriously because now he feels bad. Not to mention, his idol seems to be a lot more caring than he gave him credit for. “Viktor, you didn’t really have to do this for me.” His voice is still low and sad, and his gaze drifts to the floor with a dejected sigh. In almost a knee jerk reaction, Viktor’s hand moves close to Yuuri’s face and lithe fingers tip Yuuri’s chin up ever so slightly. Yuuri can’t help but look up into Viktor’s eyes of blue, which echo everything he’s ever come to associate with him but convinced himself wrong of in his moment of self loathing- gentle kindness mixed with such elegance, but there’s a sadness in them that Yuuri never noticed before. 

“ It’s going to take some work, but I stand by what I said at the Grand Prix Final. I can coach you for the next Grand Prix final, and you will win. ” This statement seems more direct, more serious and if Yuuri was thinking about calling it quits permanently, he sure isn’t now. The statement elicits a soft yet shy smile from Yuuri, because Viktor has never ceased to surprise him. This is no exception. Viktor is unwaveringly confident in Yuuri despite everything he’s seen so far, and that alone is enough for Yuuri to put his confidence in Viktor as a coach. He winks at the other man after having finished talking, unabashedly flirtatious, which makes Yuuri’s gaze widen and the expression in the Japanese skater’s eyes is something Viktor can’t quite place. Is it admiration? shock?

The next few months are a blur. At first, Viktor tells Yuuri that he won’t be able to skate if he doesn’t lose some weight, but after watching Viktor skate by himself at Ice Castle his motivation skyrockets. His focus is back on skating and his weight is back to what it was at the last Grand Prix Final. Yuuri feels as if this is one of his most shining moments as a skater, because how many people can say that their idol saved their career? It’s almost a dream if he’s honest, and at training one morning Viktor surprises Yuuri yet again. 

“ I have just the program for you, Yuuri.” Viktor declares confidently, smiling widely. 

“ A.. A program? ” Yuuri’s response is choked out from the sheer surprise and he can’t help but feel embarrassed at how ridiculous he looks with his mouth hanging slightly open. Of course, Viktor finds it oddly endearing. Yuuri is surprised -and then inspired- by everything Viktor does. The long felt feeling of feeling as if failing to inspire Yuuri was Viktor’s biggest failure is now just gone like a leaf floating in the wind. 

“ The theme is Eros, which is sexual love, but I don’t think you’ll have any problem skating to it!” Viktor can’t exactly say why, but his mind drifts back to when he watched Yuuri skating to Stay Close to Me and the way Yuuri moves. 

“ What? Are you joking? I can’t do that!” Yuuri exclaims a little louder, and Viktor suddenly has a glimmer of slight mischievousness that scares the other man ever so slightly as Viktor moves closer to him, his hands eventually moving to hold Yuuri’s face in his hands with a look of the most purest admiration as he looks down at Yuuri through his eyelashes. “ Skate like you’re trying to seduce me.. get me to notice you. Surely that can’t be too hard to do given that you’ve already done it.” There, he said it. 

Yuuri couldn’t argue with that. 

Before they both know it, Yuuri is performing the program at a smaller competition to the delight of a younger skater Yuuri barely remembers, but manages to after Viktor tells him something about inspiring others. When Yuuri wishes him good luck before his own program he could have sworn that the younger skater melted.


End file.
